Round 28: Vitória FC vs FC Porto

Vitória FC vs Futebol Clube do Porto
Round 28--Liga Zon Sagres
Estádio do Bonfim
Sunday, May 1, 2011
20:15​

This will be a tough match, despite their 14th place position in the table. We played them back in December, and barely sniffed out a 1-0 victory in one of our poorest displays of the season. They play with a deep midfield and always stay well organized defensively, making it tough for us to play our wide football since the wingers never have any time or space on the ball. Wouldn't be shocked to see us drop points, especially with several reserves presumably coming into the starting XI.

Moutinho and Sapunaru are suspended, while Helton is rested. Also, Belluschi, Fucile and Rafa are still out with injury, so we'll be a little thin at the back and in MF.


List of players called:

GK: Beto and Kieszek;

DF: Sereno, Rolando, Maicon, Otamendi and Alvaro Pereira;

MF: Fernando, Guarin, Ruben Michael, Souza and Mariano Gonzalez;

FW: Cristian Rodriguez, James Rodriguez, Varela, Falcao, Walter and Hulk.

 

Match is underway, we just scored on an own goal; James crossed for Walter, but we lead 1-0!

 

Lineup:

Beto
Sereno-Otamendi-Maicon-Alvaro
Souza
Guarin-Ruben
Mariano-Walter-James

 

Wow, Alvaro hit the post with the right foot after an excellent gallop up the left flank, James once again was heavily involved.

 

Haha, I would say 3--Alvaro, Otamendi and Guarin.

Anyways, 2-0 at the half, with the second goal coming off a corner from James that is headed in by Otamendi. James has been excellent, dropping into midfield as a sort of #10, and distributing the ball around well with his great left foot.

 

Haha, well you could argue that Otamendi isn't a guaranteed starter, as he often rotates with Maicon. Either way, I think you're right about this being our "B" lineup, so it's nice to see the boys play well.

It's just incredible to me how many goals we've scored from set-pieces and corners this year, too--I think that's one area where we've really improved under AVB, as I remember games under Jesualdo where we'd have like 20 corners and not convert any of them.

 

Ah, so close for Mariano! Nice, unselfish pass from Walter to Mariano, but they just cleared the line.

 

Golo!!!!!!!

Tic-tac-toe, Guarin to James to Walter for the easy finish, 3-0. Great goal.

 

Great long cross from Guarin that's headed off the cross-bar from Walter. We're just dominating, looks like a sub might be coming.

 

First sub for us is Fernando, who comes on for Guarin. Excellent match for the Colombian, who will almost certainly start again on Thursday in Spain.

With this change, Souza will likely move up in MF next to Ruben, with Fernando dropping back into his usual spot in front of the back 4.

 

Wow Beto just saved Pitbull's penalty attempt after Walter tugged a guy down in the box. Nice anticipation from the keeper.

2nd sub is Varela for James, who is the obvious choice for MOM with 3 assists.

 

Last sub is Kieszek for Beto, who leaves to a nice applause from the visiting supporters after saving the penalty. Kieszek was the only guy on our roster not to have played during the league this season, so a very nice gesture from AVB in getting the Polish GK on the pitch.

 

4-0 now, as Varela scores after some awful Setubal defending.

 

FT, we win 4-0. After a Setubal own-goal, Otamendi, Walter and Varela finish the job. Easy victory that felt more like a pre-season match, in all honesty. This club gave us some problems back in December, but tonight our back-ups dominated.

--Great game from James, who assisted on the first 3 goals and looked fantastic in his first start in a while. The boy oozes class, and it's nice to see him step up and take advantage of this opportunity.

--Another goal from Walter, who continues to score when given chances. We don't really know his status for next year--he originally said he was 80% leaving, but recently told the media that he wants to stay. Either way, the one thing we can't deny is that Walter has fantastic natural ability.

--Good stuff in MF from both Ruben Michael and Guarin. Ruben continues to play well when given opportunities, and Guarin has simply been superb since the turn of the new year.

--Tonight was one of the highlights of Beto's Porto career, as he stopped a penalty and kept a clean sheet, before leaving to a nice ovation from our fans.

 

Yeah haha, I think it's fair to say that guys like Ruben, James and Walter are good enough to start for most clubs around Europe. Outstanding depth on this squad.